Dan was still, his body inanimate.
He was stood in a field, the sun shone down on him as he watched a two boys chasing two younger children.
No matter how hard he tried, he could not draw his eyes away.
Helpless, he had to witness what he already had seen.
His memory was replaying itself over and over, and he was forced to relive it.
The two older boys were taunting the others, shouting out insults and throwing small stones.
A stone came into contact with one of the boys' backs, Dan flinched as the pain resurfaced.
He fell.
The other child carried on running, so overtaken with the will to escape that he did not even notice that he had fallen behind.
So he was left.
Left to be beaten, to be jeered at.
To be kicked and punched, to have his hair pulled and have his face trodden on.
And then the other boys left.
The small boy was on the grass, his face bruised and bloody, his body weak and damaged.
He was alone.
Struggling to breath, Dan began to panic.
He was alone.
Isolated.
Abandoned.
Lost.
The only thing Dan feared the most.
Discarded. Neglected. Friendless.
Alone.
.
Joe was standing in the back of his old house, in the kitchen. His mother was talking and laughing with Filip, his father watching, full of pride.
He raced up to her, holding his arms out to wrap her in an embrace.
Except he simply went straight through her.
He tried this over and over, again and again. Yet he was unavailing.
"Mum?" He waved his hands in front of her face, then proceeded to do the same in front of his father's and Filip's. "Anyone?"
"My son! My little boy, my best boy, my only boy!" She held his face with her hands "I am so proud of you! 10 A*s? That is insane!"
"MUM?" He began to feel angry, his blood pounded in his ears as he clenched his fists. "Mum? Mum?! Look at me!" He shouted "I'm here! Mum! Mum, I'm right
here!"
His voice echoed, as if in an empty space, he slumped against the wall and held his legs to his chest.
"Mum?" He began to sob "Mum?!"
He was overlooked, unseen and forgotten.
Once again, his brother had overshadowed him, his family could not see or hear his cries, they were oblivious.
His brother was better than him.
Better than him in everything.
And he hated him for it.
.
Zoe was sat on the sofa, with a young girl and an even younger boy.
"Zoe.."
"Yes?" They both answered, though he could only hear her as the child.
"Please will you watch it?"
"I don't want to!"
"But all the big kids watch it, do you want to be a big kid?"
"Yes... But I don't want to!"
"It's just Poltergeist."
"I don't want to! Mum said I couldn't! Mum said I wasn't old enough! Mum said..."
"Mum's not here."
He put the disc in and grinned "Don't worry. It's only scary at the end."
Zoe screamed, her whole body tense.
This had started it all.
Ever fear, every unease, every anxiety.
She was terrified, unable to tear her eyes away from her past self.
The little girl was terrified, her eyes wide and her mouth clamped shut. Her knuckles were white from squeezing the pillow on her lap, she was shaking.
And her brother was laughing.
Laughing at her.
She screamed.
She was terrified, her mind replaying every memory of movies and stories, every childhood fear, every single dread.
She was petrified.
...
Does it make any sense yet?
Can you guess what is happening?
If so, feel free to comment :P xxxx